By Stephen Andrews
Did you watch the Paris Paralympics? They were just amazing!
As you’ll know, they’re for people who have a physical and mental disability of some kind.
You might be blind, or deaf, or only have one leg, but as the Paralympian athletes show, that doesn’t mean you can’t participate in a sport.
How did it start?
The Paralympics began as a small gathering of British World War veterans in 1948. By 1960, the Paralympics Games in Rome drew 400 athletes with disabilities from 23 countries. And in the Tokyo games in 2020, 4,250 athletes competed.
Now, it’s more popular than ever. This year’s Paralympics in Paris featured around 4,400 athletes competing in 549 medal events across 22 sports.
These included Para cycling, tennis, horse riding, judo, powerlifting, rowing, weightlifting, shooting, volleyball, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, and taekwondo, to name just a few.
So Paralympians compete in pretty much the same sports as their able-bodied colleagues do.
How do they do that?
In track events, Para athletes with vision impairment compete with a guide-runner who they’re linked to with an arm band. Both the athlete and the guide receive medals on the podium.
The German, Markus Rehm, nicknamed ‘The Blade Jumper’, is a long jumper with a blade-type leg prosthesis. Rehm's right leg was amputated below the knee after an accident. He uses a carbon-fibre bladed prosthesis, which he jumps off. This year, he won gold.
India's Sheetal Devi, who reached worldwide popularity shooting without arms, achieved her first Paralympic medal this year. Amazingly, since she has no arms, she manages to hold and then load and fire her archery bow using just her legs!
Boccia is a game very similar to bowling in which players throw a ball towards a target ball. But some players may have no arm movement, so, to propel a ball onto the court, they use a mouth-operated trigger to release the ball, which then runs down a ramp into the court.
A standout year for Japan
This year, Japan won their maiden wheelchair rugby gold medal, beating the USA, three years after finishing with a disappointing bronze at a home Games in Tokyo.
Japan’s women rugby players did well, too. Kae Kurahashi became only the second woman to win wheelchair rugby gold after Great Britain’s Kylie Grimes at Tokyo 2020.
Sarina Satomi won gold at her second consecutive games, in the women's wheelchair badminton singles event.
And in the women's seated discus throw, Keiko Onidani claimed silver for Japan, setting a new Asian record.
All round, 2024 has been a really exciting Paralympics 2024 for everyone taking part.
I’m looking forward to the next Paralympics already!
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